Total ‘rain days’ so far this summer in the British Isles

Figure 1

I thought that I would look and see what were the wettest places in the UK by counting up the number of rain days there had been this summer since the 1st of June. Remember that rain days are days when 0.2 mm or more of rain has fallen in 24 hours, using SYNOP climate data that means in the 06-06 UTC period, either from the 24 hour total reported at 06 UTC, or from adding up the 12 hour totals for the period 06-18 and 18-06. I could have counted the number of wet days, which includes days with 1 mm of rain or more. As you can see from the above infographic (fig 1), Tulloch Bridge in Perthshire has the most number of rain days this summer, with 64 out of 79 days(81%). The lowest number are not surprisingly all across southern counties of England, with nine stations reporting less than 40% rain days so far this summer, headed by the St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight, with only 24 rain days so far (fig 2).

Figure 2

And if we look a little further south across the Mediterranean this summer we’ll see what really dry looks like, with many places seeing only a single rain day so far.

3 thoughts on “Total ‘rain days’ so far this summer in the British Isles”

N. Bristol a couple of miles from the Severn, QV. A W. or SW almost always gives endless showers, often in convergence lines, and dustbin-tipping wind. A slight tilt to WNW or more however, and the showers miraculously vanish and the wind goes calm. S. Wales takes the brunt, and we’ve got good shelter from the N anyway.

I don’t know where you are located, but my impression is that in the N.E. it has been less windy this year so far. My bin hasn’t blown over at all this year whereas in past years on occasion it blew half way across the street.
That was probably in winter however.
I will have to keep more accurate statistics on “bins blowing over days”.
That will also confirm my theory that it always seems to be windier on days I have to put my bin out.